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McLaren Formula 1 bosses Brown and Andrea Stella blamed rival drivers for the incident between Piastri and Norris at the start of the US GP sprint event.

The Australian driver, leading Norris in the standings by twenty-two points, crashed into his fellow McLaren driver after hitting the Hulkenberg.

The incident took both team drivers out of the race, along with the Fernando Alonso, who was on the inner side of the Sauber driver.

Team Executives Express Disappointment Over Crash

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, stated to Sky Sports that some of the driving at the front was "inexperienced", stating: "Clearly Hulkenberg drove into Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

McLaren F1 boss Andrea Stella added: "The reaction is that we are disappointed that we were denied the opportunity to compete."

"It is unexpected that some racers with a lot of expertise don't act with necessary care. Go to the first corner, make sure you avoid harming other drivers and carry on."

McLaren clarified that the team principal was mentioning both Hulkenberg and Alonso.

Contrasting Views on the Crash

Nevertheless, former champion Damon Hill, commentating for a sports broadcast, said he thought Piastri had not demonstrated enough understanding of the dangers of the first corner of an F1 race when he decided to cut back to try to pass his teammate.

Piastri had a better start than the Briton and at first competed on the outer side on the ascending entry to the corner.

But he then cut back in an effort to get a advantage on Norris on the exit, only to hit Hulkenberg.

Driver Reactions After the Collision

The McLaren driver said: "Less than perfect but I haven't seen what happened, I attempted to cut back on Norris and we were both quite distant from the corner apex and then were struck and it sent me into Lando. Unfortunate."

His teammate commented: "I just was struck, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back events unfolded and I just got unlucky and was struck because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more thoroughly. It's more drivers further back just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I thought I was in the correct position on the inside, but some vehicles came very fast from the outside switching back and then I was there in the center."

Hulkenberg, who had qualified a season-best fourth, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from the previous day in the bin. Just messy."

"Oscar steered inward pretty aggressively trying to get the inside line and exit of the first corner but I can't just disappear."

"I had Alonso challenge on the inner side and I couldn't see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Oscar steered inward and the contact was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

McLaren will analyze the crash with their drivers but only after the race weekend. Both cars needed extensive work before grand prix qualifying at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

Stella said: "Overall disappointed but we accept it, we are now focusing on repairing the vehicles, there is a lot to do and then we will resume the weekend from there."

"We are in a competitive place from our competitiveness point of view so I trust we have the opportunity to race, race normally and capitalise on our capabilities."

"The points are the most important thing, I prefer not to talk about bad intentions, just caution. A little more prudence would be good for all involved."

Standings Impact

The sprint event was taken by Red Bull's Verstappen, who closed in on both McLaren drivers in the standings - he is now 55 points behind Piastri and 33 behind of the Briton.

Stella said: "The implication is what the maths says - we missed out on eight championship points with both drivers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a highly capable vehicle and two strong racers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

The Red Bull driver said he was approaching the title race race by race.

United States Grand Prix

October 17-19, with race from 20:00 BST on the final day

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